


Sleep Deprived

by Dustyboialex, MarvelEnthusiast3000



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Anxiety, Betaed, Domestic Fluff, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gen, High School, Hurt/Comfort, Irondad, One Shot, Parent Tony Stark, Peter Parker & Pepper Potts (mentioned), Peter Parker Angst, Peter Parker Calls Tony Stark "Dad", Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Peter Parker Whump, Peter Parker is a Mess, Precious Peter Parker, Studying, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Has A Heart
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-14
Updated: 2020-06-14
Packaged: 2021-03-03 20:47:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24711832
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dustyboialex/pseuds/Dustyboialex, https://archiveofourown.org/users/MarvelEnthusiast3000/pseuds/MarvelEnthusiast3000
Summary: "Fuck, Pete," Tony groaned into his hands."I'm sorry..." Peter groaned."Pete, no. You shouldn't be sorry. It was your story to tell. I understand why you didn’t want to tell me. It’s hard to talk about stuff like that. I, of course, wish I had known, but I should be the sorry one. I took away the suit. I couldn't save you. You almost- you could have died," tears welled up in the billionaire’s eyes, and it was getting harder and harder to talk over the lump of guilt in his throat.Or...Peter has a chem test in the morning but can’t sleep because of nightmares. He goes to the only person he can think of for help... Tony.
Relationships: Pepper Potts/Tony Stark (mentioned), Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Comments: 7
Kudos: 167





	Sleep Deprived

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this a year ago one night during a service trip to West Virginia when I couldn't sleep. I always wanted to post it but I never got the nerve because I felt like it was bad. I recently started helping write/beta a story called FInding Normal: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24634402/chapters/59517661  
> She helped me edit it and basically rewrote it all, which made me feel comfortable posting it lol. 
> 
> This is basically just some Irondad fluff to get you through quarantine.

It was 11:07. Peter definitely wasn’t used to going to bed that late, but he had finals the next day and promised Mr. Stark that he would go to sleep as soon as the clock hit 10:30. And so here he was, going to sleep in his oversized bed in his super cool room at the compound, at the bedtime he hadn’t had since he was in middle school. He didn’t usually have sleepovers at the compound on school nights, but when he explained to his Aunt May that he would probably stay up late to go patrolling if he slept in their apartment in Queens, she reluctantly agreed to let him stay with Mr. Stark. 

He had everything set up perfectly at his desk for studying. He had his chemistry exam tomorrow and he _loved_ chemistry, so it's not like he should’ve been nervous. Chemistry was a subject he had always excelled in. When Peter became Spider-man, it didn't take long for the new hero to make a functioning web fluid, along with web-shooters. So why was he so nervous about it? He knew that Tony knew that he didn’t need to study for the entire day. That alone was probably the reason he made his so-called _Spider-Baby_ go to bed so early. 

That was probably why he had been tossing and turning in his bed for the past 37 minutes. Peter knew that it was good to get as much sleep as possible before a test, but that didn’t make him any less nervous. Usually, he would go out, shoot some webs, and save some people, but Queens is a 2-hour drive away and he just wasn’t in the mood to be alone with his thoughts for that long. Peter realized that the second-best option was to talk to someone and relax. Unfortunately, he had very limited options in terms of who he could talk to at the compound. Pepper was away for the week in London for SI meetings, Vision left to be with Wanda around two weeks ago, and Mr. Rhodes only ever dropped by to say hi to the last of the Avengers living at the compound every now and then. That really only left Mr. Stark. Peter's mentor was probably- no- definitely awake in his lab, maybe even working on some Spider-Man suit enhancements. Unfortunately, that didn’t take any of Peter's anxiety away when it came to bothering the philanthropist. Peter had always struggled with his anxiety, especially when what he had to do involved another person or, even worse, asking someone to do something for him. He couldn’t explain why he had these problems. He always figured "why go to a therapist? _I_ don’t even know what’s wrong with me. How would they?” Shaking his head, he got out of bed to try and convince himself to talk to his mentor.

It took the courageous and daring Spider-Man eight minutes of pacing back and forth to decide to talk to the genius. But as soon as he approached the bottom of the stairs, he began to have second thoughts. Pressing on, he reached the bottom of the stairs and cleared his throat.

"Oh, hey Kid!" Tony greeted as he looked up from his hologram simulation. "I thought you were going to bed at 10:30!" 

Peter looked at his feet in shame.

"Um... yeah. I couldn't sleep" 

"Alright then. Take a seat," Tony said with a sigh. He pointed towards the couch on the wall of his workshop. He thought about getting Peter a stool so that he could sit with him while he worked, but he knew that would only keep the visibly tired boy awake. "You want me to quiz y-"

"No!" Peter cut him off quickly, still standing at the foot of the steps. "Sorry. No thank you."

"Alright, well," Tony paused, thinking "What do _you_ want to do?" 

_Silence._

"Alright," Tony knew what was happening. When Peter got tired, he became dazed. Tony knew his kid and knew that Peter just wanted to talk. He knew that Peter was holding himself back. He watched Peter sulk over to the couch, resting his head on the armrest. Peter looked so small, so tired, so… 

"I just want to sleep."

That snapped Tony out of his thoughts, "I'm sorry?"

"I just-,” Peter sighed, “I want to sleep. I want to get through a night without a single nightmare about that building falling on me, or about May getting killed, or you- well-" Mr. Stark knew exactly what he meant.   
  


Tony took a second to process before realizing what he had just heard.

"That _building_ falling on you? A building fell on you? A _building_?" Tony asked, horrified. 

Silence _. Again._

"Peter, _please_ ," Tony said gently, getting up and walking over to the tired boy. When Peter rolled over to face the couch, he sighed.

"I can’t make you talk, bud, but I also can’t keep myself from worrying."

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you. It’s just...... that night, on homecoming. When I fought the Vulture, and that plane crashed because of me….” Peter trailed off in shame.

Peter sighed resignedly, continuing, “Vulture brought a warehouse down on me. I just couldn't get out. I called out for you, but I didn't have my suit. Just the sweatsuit onesie. I didn't know what to do! I was stuck under so much concrete. All I’ve wanted since it happened was to forget about it, but the nightmares won’t let me. I guess that’s why I didn’t tell you."

"Fuck, Pete," Tony groaned into his hands.

"I'm sorry..." Peter groaned.

"Pete, no. You shouldn't be sorry. It was your story to tell. I understand why you didn’t want to tell me. It’s hard to talk about stuff like that. I, of course, wish I had known, but I should be the sorry one. I took away the suit. I couldn't save you. You almost- you could have died," tears welled up in the billionaire’s eyes, and it was getting harder and harder to talk over the lump of guilt in his throat. 

"Well, I'm here now, aren't I?" Peter said with a sad grin and a few tears going down his face. Tony chuckled, realizing that was the perfect thing to say. Tears started flowing down his own cheeks as he brought Peter in for a hug.

"I am _so_ sorry I took the suit away. I’ll never do it again. I promise," Tony mumbled into Peter’s hair. They stayed there for a while, finding comfort in the embrace. After a few minutes, Tony realized that his kid was finally falling asleep. He picked up the half-asleep boy, holding him like a baby, and walked up the stairs. He placed him down in his oversized bed and smiled when Peter clung to his arm, silently begging him not to leave. 

Tony smiled and climbed in beside him. He wrapped his arms around the sleepy boy and felt his heart melt as Peter snuggled closer into the embrace. 

“Night, Dad,” Peter mumbled in a sleepy haze.

Tony’s eyes welled up in tears once again as he responded, “Night, kiddo. I love you.”

Peter snuggled impossibly closer in response and at 11:58 PM, he finally fell asleep. When Tony realized that he wouldn’t be getting out of his son’s iron grip any time soon, he tried to force himself to go to sleep. All he could think about was his Peter, under tons of concrete. He pulled his son closer. He didn’t want to leave.

Early into the next morning, after Peter left for school, Tony realized he must’ve fallen asleep sometime after Peter did. He started working on Mark II for the Iron Spider.

This time, should Peter ever need it, there would be something that could help him get the suit on quickly. Something that could be contained in something small and easy to conceal in public, like a watch, or a web-shooter. Tony later decided on the name NanoTech.

**Author's Note:**

> I hoped you liked it! It was one whole year in the making lol. Comment whether you liked the ending because my co-writer/beta was not that excited about it and I wanna prove her WRONG!


End file.
